I recently asked for blogging suggestions from folks on social media. One young man, who is a seminarian currently (and a former student at one of the campus ministries I worked at) asked me the following question: "What can I do as a priest to help people become missionary disciples?"

Scandals. Confusion. Decline. This is the noise that under girds the Catholic Church in our culture right now. We certainly have problems. But the problems are merely symptoms of a much deeper issue. Too many Catholics have accepted a false gods in place of Jesus....

Yes, it is a provocative statement - the American dream has killed Catholic discipleship. But, I not only believe the argument bears consideration, but that we will never truly win the nation to Jesus until we jettison the idea that Catholicism and American idealism are 100% compatible.

I got on the plane completely worn out. After training a large group of religious sisters in how to do hands-on evangelization for a weekend, I was tired. So, I wanted to put on my headphones and drift into my nothing box. But, as is usually the case, God had different plans for me....